7.07.2014

We trust everyone had a wonderful 4th of July weekend (if you happen to reside in the States) or just a great weekend to those fellow Canadians. With the entire Magic 2015 core set now revealed, most Magic: the Gathering players will now be evaluating the new cards and reading the various Magic 2015 set reviews out there. MTG Realm will getting to reviews only after having an opportunity to physically game with them - so expect a bunch of articles in another two or three weeks after the M15 prerelease and launch events.

For today's post, we wanted to touch upon the Magic 2015 Release notes from WotC. This will not only benefit players heading into the upcoming tournament events but for us will also assist in finalising our M15 pre-orders with MTG Mint Card. Let's have a gander now -

GENERAL NOTESRelease InformationThe Magic 2015 Core Set contains 269 cards (101 common, 80 uncommon, 53 rare, 15 mythic rare, and 20 basic land). There are 15 additional cards, numbered 270–284, that don't appear in Magic 2015 booster packs. These are reprints from earlier sets that are present in some supplemental products, including sample decks and the Deck Builder's Toolkit. These additional cards have a Magic 2015 expansion symbol and are legal in all formats in which Magic 2015 is legal.

The Magic 2015 Core Set becomes legal for sanctioned Constructed play on its official release date: Friday, July 18, 2014. At that time, the following card sets will be permitted in the Standard format: Return to Ravnica, Gatecrash, Dragon's Maze, Magic 2014, Theros, Born of the Gods, Journey into Nyx, and Magic 2015.

Card Face UpdatesThe Magic 2015 Core Set introduces some improvements and updates to the appearance of cards and tokens.

Guest Designer Cards and Design CreditsFourteen cards in the Magic 2015 Core Set were based on original designs from notable figures in the gaming industry. A fifteenth card, Waste Not, was the result of You Make the Card 4, a feature on DailyMTG.com that allowed members of the Magic community to design a card, one vote at a time. These fifteen cards include design credits at the bottom of their text boxes.

Returning Keyword: ConvokeThe Magic 2015 Core Set features the return of convoke, originally seen in the Ravnica: City of Guilds set. Convoke is a static ability that lets you tap creatures you control to help pay for spells.

702.50a Convoke is a static ability that functions while the spell with convoke is on the stack. "Convoke" means "For each colored mana in this spell's total cost, you may tap an untapped creature of that color you control rather than pay that mana. For each generic mana in this spell's total cost, you may tap an untapped creature you control rather than pay that mana." The convoke ability isn't an additional or alternative cost and applies only after the total cost of the spell with convoke is determined.~Returning Theme: SliversThe Magic 2015 Core Set includes several new Slivers, popular creatures that share abilities and power and toughness bonuses with other Slivers.

Cycle: SoulsSix creatures in the Magic 2015 Core Set represent protectors from different worlds throughout the Multiverse.

Returning Cycle: Magus StaffsThis set includes a cycle of artifacts, each aligned to a color, that allow you to gain life for casting spells of the appropriate color or having basic lands of the type associated with that color enter the battlefield.

Returning Card Type: PlaneswalkersA Planeswalker is a powerful ally that fights by your side. The rules for Planeswalkers have not changed with this release.

New Rules Term: "Base Power and Toughness"Magic 2015 Core Set introduces a templating change to cards that set a creature's power and toughness to a specific value.~

CARD-SPECIFIC NOTESThere are card-specific notes with helpful rules / interpretations for over one hundred Magic 2015 cards. Drop by the mothersite to review. By way of example, here are the card-specific notes for Polymorphist's Jest.